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FORT BLISS, Texas — just 10 years ago, this sprawling post along the Mexican-U.S. border was in danger of being closed by concerns over available water and other long-term support issues.

That’s all changed, as underscored last May, when the Defense Department designated Bliss as home to thousands of soldiers and family members coming from Germany under a worldwide re-positioning of forces.

Although the post will lose about 2,000 soldiers when the Air Defense Artillery Center co-locates with the Field Artillery Center at Fort Sill, Okla., it will gain a division headquarters, four brigade combat teams and a combat aviation brigade.

The expansion will have a impact on surrounding communities, including the El Paso metro area, which has 723,000 citizens. When Juarez, Mexico, and nearby communities in New Mexico are included, the population hits 2.6 million.

“Fort Bliss currently accounts for 18 percent, or $1.7 billion, of our gross regional product. The growth easily will increase that to 25 percent or more,” said Bob Cook, president of the Regional Economic Development Corporation.

Cook said the newly organized 4th Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, will generate about $500 million annually for the community. And, he said, expansions related to base realignment and closure, including the 1st Armored Division’s move to Bliss from Germany, will pump $3 billion to $4 billion into the local economy.

Richard Dayoub, president of the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce, said, “Fort Bliss is absolutely critical to our economy.”

To support the expansion, the Army has joined with the community to launch a building boom for operational facilities, family and troop housing, a water-treatment plant, roads, shopping malls and schools — all of which are promised to be ready when troops and family members arrive over the next few years, according to military and civilian leaders.

“The community has been preparing for this expansion for the past 10 years,” said Tom Thomas, civilian aide to the secretary of the Army for west Texas.

Despite its 1.4 million acres, most prime training ground in southwest Texas and New Mexico, Fort Bliss was not held in high regard by the Defense Department following the end of the Cold War because of concerns that the region’s water resources could not support long-term use, much less an increased troop population. The Army demonstrated its concern in 1995 by transferring the installation’s largest operational unit, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, to Fort Carson, Colo.

“I believe that was a wake-up call for this community, in that there was a distinct possibly that we might lose Fort Bliss,” Thomas said.

Since that time, the Chamber of Commerce, various mayors of El Paso and the district’s congressman, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, have worked to convince the Pentagon that Fort Bliss should have more troops.

To attack the water-shortage problem, community leaders worked with the Public Service Board to develop a 100-year water strategy.

Part of that plan calls for a desalinization plant being built on Fort Bliss under a joint funding arrangement between El Paso and the Defense Department.

“This will be the largest inland desalinization plant in the world and produce 27.5 million gallons of water daily,” Thomas said.

Two other major concerns to the Army as it prepares to expand the Fort Bliss population are schools and housing.

Cook said area schools can handle the coming boom, and more schools are being built.

The four largest school districts in El Paso County (there are nine districts total) that surround Fort Bliss have an excess capacity of 26,500 seats and plan to soon add another 15,000. In recent elections, local voters approved bond issues of more than $679 million to upgrade and expand schools.

Cook said El Paso also will ask voters to approve a $171 million bond allocation to cover the cost of a new elementary school, middle school and high school on Fort Bliss or close by.

The off-post housing picture also is attractive, with more than 60,000 units either being built or on the drawing board. The median cost of a three-bedroom home in El Paso is $93,000, according to HomeGain, a real estate information service.

“Right now there are 7,200 available housing units in the community, and another 12,000 are being built or about to be built,” Cook said. He also said master plans show the ability to build another 33,000 units “almost immediately.”